The Guardian reports that, "Barack Obama led tributes on Sunday to the former Washington mayor Marion Barry, who has died at the age of 78. The president heralded Barry’s work as a civil-rights campaigner in “a storied, at times tumultuous life and career” and said he “earned the love and respect of countless Washingtonians.”

Obama is quoted as saying that, “Marion helped advance the cause of civil rights for all. During his decades in elected office in DC, he put in place historic programmes to lift working people out of poverty, expand opportunity, and begin to make real the promise of home rule.”

According to the Guardian, "Barry, a Democrat, was mayor for three terms between 1979 and 1991, when he was sent to prison for six months after being filmed smoking crack cocaine. After his release, he returned to the city council; in 1995 he became mayor for a fourth time."